Athletics training for kids

donothoponpop

I've recently started training a group of under 12's, under 14's, who will be competing in the Community games this summer- doing sprints, middle distance, relay, etc. While the emphasis is on enjoyment ,inclusiveness, and bringing everyone along, there's one or two who are very good, and I'm wondering if anyone knows a good athletics book/online training resource that would suggest a few hints on how best to train kids. Currently I'm relying on my memory of being trained as a kid 25 years ago, and trying to keep the marathon "train while you sweat blood" at bay.:)

Any ideas on how best to proceed would be appreciated. There's no immediate access to AC's round these parts, so that avenue is out. Thanks.

thirtyfoot

donothoponpop wrote: »

I've recently started training a group of under 12's, under 14's, who will be competing in the Community games this summer- doing sprints, middle distance, relay, etc. While the emphasis is on enjoyment ,inclusiveness, and bringing everyone along, there's one or two who are very good, and I'm wondering if anyone knows a good athletics book/online training resource that would suggest a few hints on how best to train kids. Currently I'm relying on my memory of being trained as a kid 25 years ago, and trying to keep the marathon "train while you sweat blood" at bay.:)

Any ideas on how best to proceed would be appreciated. There's no immediate access to AC's round these parts, so that avenue is out. Thanks.

RoyMc or helpisontheway amongst others should be able to help on this one?

Don't rely on memory or what you were taught 25 years ago. Educate yourself and understand if possible which I guess is what you are wanting to do.

RoyMcC

I'd suggest you get yourself on an Athletics Leader (not Little Athletics) course - there are a number coming up. You'll get some great ideas.

The best one-stop coaching resource I know is http://www.brianmac.co.uk/ - though not aimed at young athletes there is a lot of good stuff there that you can adapt.

The old British Athletics Federation coaching publications were great but have not been updated or put online.

Any particular problems stick them up here or feel free to PM.

ChickenTikka

donothoponpop wrote: »

I've recently started training a group of under 12's, under 14's, who will be competing in the Community games this summer- doing sprints, middle distance, relay, etc.

The brianmac site mentioned by roymc is v good. If its just for the local community games, I guess your group will be taking part in both sprints and middle distance. So your training session would have to cater for both ... maybe starting with an easy run and doing some sprints at the end. With beginners, I get them to run for a certain amount of time rather than specific distances ... that way it suits both fast and slow runners. An unfit child will have difficulty in running even for 3 minutes without stopping - mainly because they will blast off at the start and not pace themselves. So you could start by saying "everyone is going to run for 3, 4 or 5 minutes" and put them into groups to see who can do it at their own pace.

If after a few weeks they can't handle the 3 or 4 minutes continuous running, they may be better off only doing the sprints. Once you have a bit more knowledge about them and if they are only doing distance, you could increase the 5 minutes slowly .. and maybe introduce a fast minute in the middle. They'd probably need to train more than once a week at the distance running to make real improvements - depending on what other sports they have on.

There's alot of drills with ladders and small hurdles than can be done to improve running technique but if its a group that isn't going to stick at it for more than a few weeks, it may be a waste of time doing the drills.

For relays, in our local community games, we just pick the fastest in each age group as the relay team rather than running a local relay. And then insist on them coming to practise as if they don't get baton practise, they won't do great as a team.

For field events like long jump, there's alot of real good videos on youtube that you can watch to see good technique.

helpisontheway

Id agree with Roymc on the Brianmc site,its very good.I dont think you can do an AAI coaching course though unless you are attached to a club but i am open to correction on this.
Because of the time frame involved if i was you i would go and watch some club within your county training[obviously with their permission].Im sure somebody here can direct you to a suitable club.When you see it being done you will then be able to transfer it to your own athletes with a lot of common sense also.
If you intend on doing this for a few years get registered with a club and go down the coaching course way as Roymc suggested.
Another thing you will have to think about is getting them to a track as National Community games are now on a track,im not sure where Wicklows are held.
General rules of thumb for kids training-1.Warm up 2.Running Drills 3.Main Session 4.Game 5.Warm down
Spirnts-
Speed=Anything from 30m-60ms
Speed Endurance=Anything from 120-200ms
Distance
Speed=Anything from 200-400
Speed Endurance=Anything from 400m-600m
Stamina=Anything above the race distance
Long Jump=Speed X Height
Relays=Baton Practice

That much should be more than enough,dont complicate it,be confident as a coach,be organised and you will be fine.

BeepBeep67

helpisontheway wrote: »

National Community games are now on a track,im not sure where Wicklows are held.
quote]

http://www.athleticswicklow.com/entry_forms/fixtures_2009.pdf
Shilleagh June 7th.